Open Your Eyes
by deathofabyss
Summary: It was almost Ace's birthday and Luffy decided to stay on a lookout that night. Apparently some unknown guest arrived to check up on Luffy. (One shot)


_My first One Shot, so the writing isn't that detailed as I hoped it would._

* * *

It was nearing midnight, and Luffy decided to stay on a lookout on the roof of the observation room. He rested his head on top of his arms as he lay down on the roof; he wasn't really on a lookout, but more like gazing at the night sky. This wasn't his usual self but he realized that it was almost his older brother's birthday, Ace. As much as he didn't like the thought of remembering the loss of his older brother, he ended up remembering the good times instead. The times when Ace saved him from a giant anaconda, the time when they made their base with Sabo, and all those good old memories which he knew can never happen again.

Luffy closed his eyes, took a deep breath, sat back up, and stretched out his arms and back, the next thing he realized was that his stomach was grumbling. "Hungry..."he pouted at the thought, and jumped down to head for the kitchen.

"I hope Sanji forgot to put on the lock for the fridge, because I sure can eat some meat right now!" he stated as he was walking towards the kitchen, placing his most treasured straw hat on top of his head.

Suddenly, Luffy heard some strange footsteps on the lawn deck. He speculated that it was just one of his crewmates waking up, but the problem was no doors were heard being opened, but Luffy wasn't smart enough to think that far. He ended up heading for the lawn deck with his usual goofy smile and called out to whoever owned those footsteps, "Oi! Usopp, Chopper is that you? Don't tell me you guys are hungry as well!"

All of a sudden, Luffy's smile faded, his face turned into utter shock and he was speechless. Apparently those footsteps weren't owned by one of his crewmates, and this made him unable to move. His eyes and mouth were just wide open and he was unable to even stutter a single word by the presence of the person in front of him. He knew whose back it was that he was facing, that crouched figure by the ledge of Sunny Go. Though Luffy only saw it a few times, he knew what that tattoo on this person's back meant, and that orange hat with red beads which this person wore on top of his head.

Luffy scratched his eyes, thinking it was just a mere hallucination, that his eyes were just playing tricks on him, but when he checked again, this person turned his head towards Luffy and gave him a big grin.

"Hey Luffy, you sure have grown these past two years."

"A-ACE!?" Luffy shouted, he knew it was his brother who was in front of him, he just couldn't believe the thought that he was there right in front of him.

"Y-Youre Ace right!?" Luffy asked as he walked towards the figure in front of him and poked it.

"Hey cut that out! Of course it's me. Don't tell me you've forgotten your own brother's face!" Ace stated as he faced Luffy and slapped his younger brother's poking hand away from him.

Luffy backed away for a bit and squinted his eyes at Ace. It was true that this was his brother in front of him, but how? He knew that Ace had died in Marineford a long time ago, yet his brother is here standing in front of him. Luffy tried to think of all the possible reasons but this just made his head hurt and he gave up.

Ace laughed at the sight of his younger brother scratching his head through all the thinking making his straw hat fall back. "Well then, it's been two years... So did anything interesting happen? How's your crew, I hope you're not giving them too much trouble" Ace stated as he walked towards Luffy and messed his hair up and placed Luffy's hat back on top of his younger brother's head.

"THE CREW THAT'S RIGHT!" Luffy shouted as he looked up at his brother again.

"I should wake the crew up! You haven't met some of them, they're really amazing! There's Robin, Franky, and Br—"

Ace stopped Luffy by blocking him with his arm when he saw his younger brother heading towards the cabins.

"I think..." Ace looked down a bit. His face was full of distraught, and he faced Luffy again. "I think its best that they don't know." Ace tried to give his most sincere smile.

Luffy was shocked and confused by what Ace said, he knew that this was his brother, and he knew that it was almost Ace's birthday, so he at least wanted Sanji to prepare something before his brother leaves yet Ace is stopping him. Luffy didn't know what the problem was, since Ace already met some of his crewmates.

"What do you mean its best? You should meet them! You'll really like them just like the others you met before! Sanji can even make you a really delicious cake for your birthday if you want!" Luffy tried to explain as he was trying to make his way to where his crewmates were sleeping.

"LUFFY I DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME!" Ace shouted.

Luffy instantly stopped and looked at his brother. He knew Ace was serious now, but he didn't get why Ace is trying to stop him. Luffy just couldn't understand what Ace meant by not much time. Was Ace sick? Or maybe still badly injured from the war, but that was two years ago.

"Oi Ace is there something wrong? If you're hurt, Chopper can heal you."

"It's not that I'm hurt it's just..."

Luffy stared at Ace waiting to what his brother was about to say.

"I just wanted to check up on you okay. I mean Sabo can't see you right now but I'll tell him everything I saw today, about you and your crew! I'm sure he'll be happy to hear things from you again." Ace stated with a grin on his face trying to hold all his tears.

"W-What are you..." Luffy suddenly saw spots of light flickering around Ace. The figure of his brother starting to fade slowly but bit by bit. "A-ACE! YOU'RE-!"

"I guess times almost running out Luffy, but I'm glad you're still safe, and you found more crewmates to watch over you and guide you in your journey."

"WAIT ACE YOU'RE DISAPPEARING!" Luffy tried to reach for Ace but his hand only passed through Ace's disappearing figure.

"Well then, I guess I better get going." Ace placed his hand on top of Luffy, but Luffy couldn't look at his brother slowly disappearing, slowly losing him again. "Tell everybody I said hi alright? And if you get the chance to meet Marco and the rest, tell them my regards."

Luffy's tears wouldn't stop falling, he wanted to cling on to his brother but he couldn't at all. It was as if the war in Marineford was happening all over again, and he couldn't even do anything to make his brother stay.

"Well then Luffy, it's time for you to open those eyes."

Suddenly, by hearing those words, Luffy woke up. He was lying down on the lawn deck, and he saw Nami sitting beside him, and the rest of his crew nearby.

"W-What happened?" Luffy asked as he sat up. When he tried to scratch his eyes, he noticed there were traces of tears on his eyes and cheeks.

"You seriously don't remember?" Usopp asked after hearing Luffy.

"We wondered where you were when you weren't in the men's cabin" Chopper stated as he ran towards Luffy to give him a hug, "Everyone was worried because we couldn't find you at first!"

Luffy looked around and was still confused about the situation. "Hmmm... What did happen..."

"Seriously, here I thought you were just out eating all our food again, but in the end you were just here sleeping." Sanji stated as he blew the smoke from his cigarette.

"Well now he's awake I guess we have nothing to worry about" Zoro said as he stood up from his position. "Seriously our captain is just too troublesome at times."

While Zoro left to head for the observation room, and Sanji went to the kitchen to prepare some food. Brook stayed to play a soothing song, and Robin just read a book in the corner to keep the rest of the crew who stayed with Luffy company. Chopper and Usopp ended up playing around, and as for Franky, he was bothered by something.

He went towards his captain and handed Luffy something. "Oi Luffy, maybe this can help you remember why you're sleeping out here."

Luffy looked at the object Franky handed him, and was at utter shock. Franky decided to leave Luffy alone seeing how his captain looked after seeing the object.

"Luffy isn't that..." Nami stated as she saw what Franky handed Luffy.

Luffy started to tear up a bit. He tried to hide it since he didn't want his crewmates to see, but Nami was able to notice them, she even noticed how Luffy was somewhat trembling as he held the item tightly.

"I-I saw Ace but..." Luffy's tears started to trail down on his cheeks, "But I don't know if it was a dream or not."

He held the red bead tightly. The red bead that came from Ace's necklace, and made sure that he won't lose it, that he won't lose it just like how he lost his brother.


End file.
